“Business, Govt should promote brand SA”
February 4, 2013, 2:28 pm

South African President Jacob Zuma wants to work together with businesses to improve the economy. [AP]

The South African government and the business sector will meet within two months in an attempt to overcome obstacles to economic growth, it was decided at a government-business meeting in Pretoria on Sunday.

The meet was hosted by Jacob Zuma, the South African President who was accompanied by Kgalema Motlanthe, Deputy President and economic cabinet committee ministers.

President Zuma said at the meeting: “As government and business we share the goal of building a prosperous society, free of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

“We share the goal of promoting a strong and positive South African brand. We therefore need to work very closely together, especially at this critical period when our economy is affected by the harsh European economic meltdown that refuses to go away.

Business leaders had approached Zuma at the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland last month asking for an opportunity to “engage the government on priorities” before Zuma’s State of the Nation address on February 14.

“Seventy five per cent of the jobs must come from the private sector. We are engaging our members to point out three to five constraints that make it difficult for business to triple economic growth by 2030”, said Jabu Mabuza, Business Unity South Africa President who was present at the meet.

57 founding members, many of them prominent US allies, will sign into creation the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Monday, the first major global financial instrument independent from the Bretton Woods system.

Representatives of the countries will meet in Beijing on Monday to sign an agreement of the bank, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. All the five BRICS countries are also joining the new infrastructure investment bank.

The agreement on the $100 billion AIIB will then have to be ratified by the parliaments of the founding members, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing in Beijing.

The AIIB is also the first major multilateral development bank in a generation that provides an avenue for China to strengthen its presence in the world’s fastest-growing region.